Winners And Losers From Last Night's Government Funding Package

As we noted earlier, the package limps the government along to March 14, when this is Trump’s problem, and includes $100 billion in disaster aid and a one-year farm bill. It notably did not include a debt limit extension demanded by Trump.

After passing through the house on the third try, the funding bill passed overnight in the Senate on Saturday by a vote of 85-11, while the House vote was 366-34.

Here are the winners and losers:

Elon Musk – whose viral posts on X helped spread the word that the original 1500+ page bill was total bullshit that was packed with pork.

The billionaire businessman and close Trump ally came out against Johnson’s initial spending plan — which was bipartisan and bicameral — prompting a flood of Republicans to follow suit. The proposal never made it to the floor for a vote amid the widespread opposition.

When Johnson’s grip on the gavel appeared to be losing its strength, some GOP lawmakers floated Musk as a potential Speaker — a longshot prospect but one that underscored their admiration for the SpaceX and Tesla CEO, and discontent with Johnson’s leadership. A House Speaker is not required to actually be a member of the House. -The Hill

Rand Paul agrees…

The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress . . .

Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk . . . think about it . . . nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’…

— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 19, 2024

Federal employees – Who aren’t getting coal this year from Uncle Sam. Of note, Congress hasn’t seen a shutdown in about six years. During the last one, thousands of federal workers were furloughed or had some type of disruption in pay.

Farmers – who received $10 billion in economic assistance after some Republicans threatened to spike the stopgap without the aid. The bill also extends the 2018 farm bill by one year.

Disaster aid – of which there’s roughly $100 billion. A large portion of this, $30 billion, will go towards FEMA’s disaster relief fund, which almost ran out of money during hurricane season.

Washington DC – Which will receive control over RFK Stadium. Oh boy.

Losers:

Donald Trump – who now gets to deal with another round of this bullshit in March.

Speaker Mike Johnson – who let this become Trump’s problem by refusing to stand his ground, or split the package into separate bills.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) – whose insistence that any attempt to raise the borrowing limit be paired with spending cuts was ‘rewarded’ by a bitchslap from Trump, who took to Truth Social to call for a primary challenger to take on Roy.

Americans – Who live in a country where spending is so out of control that the government keeps bumping up against its own debt limit like clockwork.